Almost 50 years ago, psychologist Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, through her work with terminally ill patients, introduced what has become known as the Five Stages of Grief. Unfortunately, her work has been misinterpreted over the years where many people feel that they are supposed to go through the states in order:[[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”411″,”attributes”:{“alt”:”stages of grief, tasks or mourning”,”class”:”media-image”,”style”:”float: right; margin: 12px; width: 350px; height: 233px;”}}]]
Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance.
We know that while these feelings are experienced by many people during grief, not everyone experiences all of them, nor are they necessarily experienced in any particular order.
Today, many feel that William Worden’s “Tasks of Mourning” is a more helpful description of the process that grieving people go through in order integrate the loss into their lives. The tasks of mourning are:
Task 1: To accept the reality of the loss
Task 2: To process the pain of grief
Task 3: To adjust to a world without the deceased
Task 4: To find an enduring connection with the deceased in the midst of embarking on a new life.
Whenever we experience change, we go through a process of integrating that change into our lives. While this is most dramatic when someone we love dies, it is important to be mindful of the feelings and challenges that come with change.
The Journal of Loss & Trauma highlights common as well as differing impacts of major losses while revealing commonalities of the various healing processes. Interdisciplinary in its approach, the journal publishes empirically-oriented papers, case studies with intervention strategies, point-counterpoint discussions, theoretical analyses, essays on concepts or links among relevant fields, and therapeutic approaches. Book reviews are also regular features.
Mortality is essential reading for those in the field of death studies and in a range of disciplines, including anthropology, art, classics, history, literature, medicine, music, socio-legal studies, social policy, sociology, philosophy, psychology and religious studies. The journal is also of special interest and relevance for those professionally or voluntarily engaged in the health and caring professions, in bereavement counselling, the funeral industries, and in central and local government.
Illness, Crisis & Loss is the resource that furthers your understanding and knowledge of the psychosocial and ethical issues associated with life-threatening illness, traumatic human crises, grief, and loss. The broad focus of the journal makes it relevant to a wide range of professionals and scholars, such as grief counselors, therapists, social workers, thanatologists, physicians and nurses, medical ethicists, and anyone else who works with people in crisis situations.
The journal Grief Matters: The Australian Journal of Grief and Bereavement has been published by the Australian Centre for Grief and Bereavement since 1998, and encompasses both academic and applied aspects of grief and bereavement.
Grief Digest Magazine is a reader-friendly magazine which includes the best writers and speakers in the field of bereavement. The magazine provides interesting articles on coping and dealing with grief, help for the caregiver.